The crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) is a voracious consumer of live coral. Its massive population outbreaks can quickly decimate a reef. Without being able to control these outbreaks at a regional scale, restoration of coral reefs damaged by storms and bleaching is greatly hampered.

Our multi-pronged approach to predicting and preventing COTS outbreaks along the Great Barrier Reef includes understanding and modelling dispersal, and developing scalable solutions using peptides that mimetic natural attractants.

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